Researchers from UZ Brussels and VUB research group SKIN, among others, discovered a strong link between IgE autoreactivity in patients with eczema combined with allergic conditions, including hay fever, allergic asthma and food allergy. Professor Gutermuth. “Important, because it may open the way to better prevention and early treatment of atopic eczema, but also allergic asthma and hay fever,” says Professor Gutermuth.
UZ Brussels and VUB research group SKIN are investigating the role the immune system plays in the development of atopic eczema, an inflammatory reaction of the skin and one of the most common skin conditions. They do this together with the German University of Bonn and the Swiss Christine Kühne – Center for Allergy Research and Education. If possible, the researchers are paving the way to early treatment of the skin condition.
VUB professor Jan Gutermuth, head of the Dermatology department at the UZ Brussels and professor Inge Kortekaas, together with professor Thomas Bieber and his colleagues from the University of Bonn (Germany) and the Christine Kühne – Center for Allergy Research and Eduction in Switzerland, analyzed blood samples from more than 600 patients with atopic dermatitis. The main focus was to determine whether the patients had IgE or Immunoglobulin E in the body, a protein that can be formed during allergic reactions and to which the immune system responds, for example by developing eczema.
Correlation
The researchers discovered a strong link between IgE autoreactivity in patients with eczema combined with allergic conditions, including hay fever, allergic asthma and food allergy. This means that patients with eczema who have these antibodies almost always suffer from one or more other allergies. Furthermore, patients with IgE autoantibodies showed a strong correlation with factors such as birth during the pollen season, young adult age and little contact with pets.
“It is the first time that such a large-scale study has been conducted into autoimmune phenomena in atopic eczema. The presence of these antibodies could help to identify at an early stage in children whether they are at risk of developing certain allergies,” said Professor Gutermuth. “Important, because they may open the way to better prevention and early treatment of atopic eczema, but also allergic asthma and hay fever.”
The research group is now working together with the departments of Obstetrics, Neonatology and Pediatrics of the UZ Brussels to build the “DIANA birth cohort” (Development of IgE Autoantibodies in Newborns with Atopic dermatitis). The team wants to investigate when and how IgE autoantibodies develop in children and whether the presence of the autoantibodies can predict the development of atopic dermatitis, food allergy, allergic rhinitis or asthma. This kind of knowledge can pave the way for specific prevention and very early treatment to minimize symptoms in affected children and adults.
The results of the study were recently presented during het congres van de European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) in Hamburg and published in Allergy.
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2023-09-14 09:17:46
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